International Family and Faith Film Festival is Coming to Arizona!

International Family and Faith Film Festival is Coming to Arizona!

THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL FAMILY & FAITH FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES HEADLINE FILMS

TEMPE, AZ – 9/9/2016 (PRESS RELEASE JET) — The 1st International Family & Faith Film Festival proudly announces that Choices with Morgan Freemen, Desert Mission by Cameron Eastwood, and The Spear of God, the directorial debut of Eric Copolla will be the headline films in Tempe, Arizona.

Set to launch in Tempe, Arizona, the inaugural IFFFF will run from November 2nd through November 6th of this year, the first major festival event of its kind. Showcasing the best of faith-based cinema from around the world, the festival will also serve as a platform to produce and distribute globally original faith-based programming. Backed by several corporate sponsors, the IFFFF will be chaired by the management team at I & R Film Capital in association with Blue Fox Entertainment. The festival is set to screen approximately 30-40 films in competition. Efforts are also underway to increase that number to 100 to 200 films. Joseph Neibich, the managing director at I & R, noted that they have been longtime advocates for faith-based programming and for increasing their exposure to audiences worldwide both theatrically and on television.

“Our aim is to nurture a festival that will rival the existing film events that continue to play an integral role worldwide,” Neibich said. “We are exciting to introduce films with an element of faith to mass audiences, which have already expressed their power at the box office. Our goal is to continue giving these films and filmmakers the same multi-platform release schedules and revenue streams that traditional studio films enjoy. We look at the IFFFF as also being a key role that will help launch the careers of faith-based filmmakers and facilitate established filmmakers to transition into making films that have an element of faith. Our mission is simple: to inspire, showcase, support, and develop filmmakers of all faiths to make great films that leave others equally inspired and moved. Here, our filmmakers and distributors will also be empowered to further expand the scope and appeal of the genre.”

The IFFFF kicks off Friday, November 4, with a cocktail reception for filmmakersand members of the community. The weekend continues with the best films of 2016, with several classic films like the Greatest Story Ever Told set to play at the historic Valley Theatre in downtown Tempe. There will be a filmmaker panel talking about the business behind independent film taking place at the Tempe Mission Palms. The festival concludes with a closing night party on Sunday evening, which is open to the public. Screenings of films will continue to take place through Sunday.

“We are dedicated to improving the quality of faith based programming,” Neibich continued. “Films like the groundbreaking ‘The Passion of the Christ’ and the timeless ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ franchise prove that when given a studio budget and studio talent faith-based films can expect to gross just as much if not more money that secular films. And when you look at films like ‘Heaven is for Real’ and ‘Courageous,’ they earn so much more money than typical independent films there’s really no comparison. As such, we feel that by giving a platform to faith-based films, thus increasing their exposure and the awareness of them in Hollywood. We will not only be able to produce them profitably, but inspire others to produce far more than the one or two films per year that Hollywood is currently making. We feel we can directly impact the quantity and quality of faith based films getting produced in the U.S. and abroad.”

The IFFFF endeavors to bestow upon the festival winners of the Audience and Jury Selection awards a distribution agreement with a traditional theatrical release as well as to ultimately nurture and develop faith-based filmmaking talent in the future, following the model set by the Sundance Institute.

Janet Lee, speaking on behalf of I & R, reinforced that the teams at both I & R Film Capital and Blue Fox are passionate about faith-based films and are driven to make them as successful and ubiquitous as they were in the 1950s and 1960s when such iconic and award-winning blockbusters as “The Ten Commandments,” “Ben-Hur,” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told” routinely dominated the box office. Once the IFF team has a steady pipeline of films in distribution, their vision will extend into producing and distributing original television programming in addition to the launch of a new television channel.

The IFFFF will include workshops and panel discussions with celebrities and industry leaders, and family events that will be open to the public. Following the

festival, the management team plans to launch a year-round event calendar to promote faith-based filmmakers, artists, directors, and producers at schools,

community centers, and churches worldwide.

“We are looking for films that can succeed commercially,” Neibich added. “We aren’t just looking to promote what have become heavy handed, low budget, and

low production value, faith-based films. We want to do films in every genre that includes action, horror, and comedy. We feel spirituality is a big tent that can

support just as many genres as secular films.”

To qualify for the festival’s competition, a film has to meet the following requirements: It must have an element of faith and it cannot detract from the faith

of any other group.

As Neibich noted, “We want to promote faith and the production of faith based films: not promote adherence to one faith over any other. We believe in the essential unity of all religions and look to showcase films from a wide variety of religions, inspirations, and spiritual masters.”

The International Family & Faith Film Festival appreciates the support from their corporate sponsors including Final Draft, Story Quick, and InkTip.

For more information about the IFFFF, please visit the event website: www.InternationalFamilyandFaithFilmFestival.com